Making stuff out of nothing

Keep it true, keep it real

Trill |tril|adjectiveUrban dictionary: used in hip-hop culture to describe someone who is considered to be well respected, coming from a combination of the words true and real”.

I think there’s value to these characteristics, “trueness” and “realness”, and that they’re under appreciated in today’s social media based and extrovert driven society.

Being true and real refers to acting consistently with who you are on the inside. That is, your morals, core principles, guiding beliefs and attitudes about the world do not change depending on who you’re talking to. Obviously, we adopt certain mannerisms depending on the social context, but if you believe that binge drinking is bad, being true is going out to the club and not downing seven shots of vodka in a row because your friends are doing it too.

I find often that people are lightyears away from being trill. One of the things that vexes me is when people act differently around different people. I feel like everyone’s got an identity, a set of characteristics and viewpoints that define who everyone really is. Everyone also has feelings, penchants, preferences for how they want to be treated. As I’ve said many times before, I’m someone who’s always in favor of the most direct solution. (Even if sometimes I don’t take my own simple piece of advice.) I believe that if you don’t like a certain person, or are uncomfortable with how someone is treating you, you should just say so. Yet many people are afraid to do so, because they fear how they’ll be perceived by others. They continue speaking and hanging out with people they don’t like because they’re afraid of “social repercussions” that might follow if they don’t.

I think this is PRESposterous. (Heh.) To begin with, most people that you think are judging you have probably never given you a second thought. Next, and more importantly, the opinions of others should not dictate how you act and how you feel about yourself. (Unless we’re talking about like people saying “no don’t murder him because you don’t like him”, because y’know. Murder is bad.) That annoying kid you force yourself to hang out with simply because he happens to be in your general vicinity a lot or with the same group of friends you hang out with- you’re not obligated to like him, hang out with him or even speak to him! I believe that everyone should be treated respectfully. But nowhere in this belief do I think that everyone should be treated as a friend. There’s a difference between the two.

I’m going to leave you with a quote from Bruce Lee that stuck in my head: “Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself.”